


on the rooftop

by trash_mammall



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Suicide Attempt, almost one anyway, connor helps a teenager, it isnt linear tho its a constant mix of hurt n comfort, its lowkey a vent fic but it's fine, no need to freak out abt the OC, that's kinda it - Freeform, theyre not hurting anyone n it's merely to make something out of the story, w/o hurting any of the real characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-27 16:37:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15028745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trash_mammall/pseuds/trash_mammall
Summary: Connor doesn't need sleep, and sitting still is not something he enjoys doing, so he goes on walks. One night, very late, he spots something high above on a rooftop.Time to investigate.- - - - - - - -TW: this is all about Connor talking someone away from killing themself





	on the rooftop

**Author's Note:**

> please read carefully and proceed with caution if you're sensitive to material along the lines of attempted suicide. stay safe.

Connor enjoyed walking at night. Not needing much sleep, he had found out quickly how fidgety he would get doing nothing all night, and so he opted for going outside. Walking down streets allowed him to clear his mind, the occasional car feeding him comforting buzzes of wheels every so often, and the stars continued to glisten in the sky.

He walked frequently, especially when on a tougher case, and preferred tracing the buildings and the sky rather than watch the sidewalk. This, of course, sometimes meant he would run into someone, or something, but nothing a quick apology and a straightening of the tie couldn’t fix.

Connor knew the ins and outs of Detroit better than most, and at this point he knew many of the more notable residences’ nightly routines - this house regularly stayed up watching horror movies, this apartment had a party every friday, and so on.

So on a particularly boring night when his eyes caught something new, something irrational and almost definitely useless, he couldn’t help but stop.

He had been looking at the skyline just above the apartment complex across the street from him, tracing the edges of each brick, but honed in on something completely organic. It wasn’t ventilation, it wasn’t more walling, and it certainly hadn’t been there any other night.

He could only think of one conclusion: investigation was needed (he was a detective, after all).

When Connor reached the rooftop, a brisk wind now picking up he was unsurprised to find either a human or an android sitting near the edge. His suspicions had been correct on what the figure had been, but now his curiosity was peaked. There was no way he was walking away from this without figuring out more, not when he desperately needed something to do.

He made himself a mission.

“Excuse me?” Connor began, speaking loud enough for the person to hear him from a safe distance.

They whipped their head around after a flinching out of surprise, obviously not expecting anyone. Their brows were furrowed, and they seemed to physically curl inwards on themself.

Connor resisted the urge to scan them, opting for a more interesting, and less creepy, approach.

“Who the hell are you?” The figure called back, malace and low energy tucked in their words.

“My name is Connor,” he replied, taking a step forward, “What’s your name?”

The person paused for a moment, before responding with, “Why do you care?”

Connor let out an artificial sigh, and allowed himself to do a quick scan of them. Based on how they were acting, he wanted to assume they were a human teenager, and he was unsurprisingly correct. He did not want to scan for their name, however: he had been told how suspicious it could be multiple times by Lieutenant Anderson.

Connor shrugged as a reply for the human, stepping forward again. “I’m just curious. I was out walking and saw you up here, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.”

This prompted the human to stare him down with an expression morphed between discomfort and distrust. “How in the fuck would you know if I’ve been up here before? From down there I’d just look like a blurry blob, right? Not to mention how creepy it is for you to be curious and then  _ actually come up here _ .”

Connor paused, and blinked.

“I didn’t take into consideration the implications of that, my apologies. I’m an android-” he removed the holographic layer of skin on his hand to drive the point forward- “and I don’t tend to sleep much. I’ve walked down this street numerous times and have far superior eyesight and memory compared to any human. I saw you up here, and I knew you had never been up here before, or at least not so close to the edge. If I’m being honest, I was quite bored and thought this may be something of interest.”

The human nodded once, and replied, “Sorry to disappoint, nothing interesting up here,” before turning back around.

Connor’s brow creased as he stared at the back of the human’s head for a moment. He was quite good at picking out emotions, as one had to be incredibly familiar with different expressions of feelings in order to simulate them properly in investigations. He could tell this teenager was being defensive, but it was hard to differentiate whether this was something to be relatively concerned about, or something human teenagers just  _ did. _

He decided it was probably better to be safe and probe a little further.

“I’d like to get this straight,” he started, only continuing when he heard a hum of acknowledgement from the teenager, “you came up here in the middle of the night, by yourself, and decided to sit dangerously close to the edge?”

Connor could see the teenager physically groan, finally turning around and standing up to face him. Their clothes were a bit too big on their frame, either because of pricing or for comfort’s sake, and all articles were somewhat dusty and worn down. Their eyes held something more than just distrust for Connor, something that only came with consistent exhaustion.  _ Not something a human teenager should have, _ he mused to himself.

They shoved their hands deep in their pockets.

“So what if I did, Mr. Robot Man? What’re you gonna do?”

Their tone was cautious, hinting irrational anger. Connor remained still.

“I simply would like to make sure you’re safe, as falling off by accident would be easy due to the poor level of lighting. You shouldn’t be up here.” He kept his tone calm, factual, hoping to diffuse the situation.

“God, who the fuck cares? I don’t know you, you don’t know me, so why don’t you make your way back wherever you came from, and leave me alone?” The human bit back, waving a hand as if to shoo him away.

Connor tilted his head to one side, pushing against his desire to scan them for their name - doing so felt more than a little insensitive and rude. “I do not need to know you in order to show concern for your well being. I am also ready to assume your family would be incredibly unhappy if anything were to happen to you. So, if you would please tell me what you plan to do up here, or at least your name, I would greatly appreciate it.”

The human scoffed, turning back towards the ledge before muttering, “You can call me Lu, okay? Happy now?”

Connor let out a satisfied hum and took a couple steps towards Lu. “I’m much happier, yes. Would you tell what you’re doing up here now?”

Lu turned to face him, a look of irritability etched in their frown, and they crossed their arms. Connor crossed his arms in response, sensing something shifting in their demeanor.

They let out huff, gritting their teeth. “You really like pushing that, huh android man? Why can’t you just scan me and figure it out yourself if you’re so damn interested? I’ve seen you in the news - I know you can do that.”

“I thought scanning you for information would be insensitive, and I’ve been told it can cause humans to be paranoid. I chose to ask you personally what your intentions were, assuming I wouldn’t  _ have _ to scan anything. As for asking it so much, you have to admit that finding a teenage human on the roof of a tall building is concerning.” Connor focused on Lu’s response to his statement, watching as they seemed to pull tighter into themself.

Something began to tell him he had a great right to be worried.

“Look, I just wanted to get some air, okay? You can do your dumb scan to see if I’m telling the truth but that’s all I’m saying. The exit is to your right, asshole,” they replied, voice strained and gravelly.

As Lu landed back on the ceiling’s flooring, legs dangling off the edge, Connor stood silent for a moment. Logically, he wasn’t going to be able to find out what they were doing by scanning - that wasn’t how that function worked. He couldn’t just know what happened, so instead he decided forgo that plan all together and sit next to them on the ledge.

They both sat in silence for a moment, and Connor couldn’t help but notice how small the human seemed to be up close.

“You hang around humans a lot, yeah?” They asked, voice still holding its previous gruff tone that almost reminded Connor of Hank.

He nodded, replying with a simple, “Yes.”

Lu looked at him out of the corner of their eye, a hint of a smirk pulling their lips. “You’d think you’d be better at getting them to talk.”

Connor smirked back, responding with a simple shrug. He wanted to gain the human’s trust, because he definitely wasn’t about to leave them up here. That would be wildly irresponsible. 

After a moment, one in which rain started fall across their faces and hum comfortably around them, Lu spoke up in a humorous tone.

“You know, killing yourself is supposed to be private.”

Both of them knew it wasn’t funny.

Connor had, disappointingly, expected an outcome of that nature.

“There’s very little privacy when it comes to suicide, actually,” Connor said, voice lower and gentler than before. “You’d be surprised by how public it can get.”

They slouched over, leaning their elbows on their knees. “You don’t sound like someone who just intruded on some kid offing themself. You do this often, or d’you just not care?”

Connor kept his eyes on the skyline of towering buildings across the street. “I care, of course I do, but it wasn’t that hard to deduce. No one just getting air would act that defensive.”

Lu hummed in response, scratching at their arm idly. Neither seemed quite sure of what to say for a minute, listening to the sound of cars driving by in substitute for talking. Connor was trying to figure out the right words to say to little avail, as he had never been programmed to talk someone down from a building like  _ this _ before. It wasn’t in his code, and he had never felt the need to look it up.

He had never thought he would be in such a position.

Lu decided to break the silence, themself.

“So are you gonna let me get on with this, or are you gonna sit around ‘til the sun comes up?” Their voice was tense, though Connor couldn’t see their face to gauge how they were feeling exactly.

“I’m not leaving this rooftop without you, and something tells me you aren’t going to do anything with an audience.” He tried to keep his voice calm, tried to make it sound like he knew what he was doing.

He really didn’t know what he was doing.

He reached in his pocket and felt the cool metal of his coin, and he let the familiar feeling help him to rationalize.

Lu was silent.

“Lu, I’m going to need you to walk through the rooftop door with me, so we can take you somewhere safe,” Connor told them, keeping his voice steady.

“Who are you, my dad? I’m not going anywhere, go the fuck away already.” Their voice was quick, venom lacing each word, but they still refused to look at Connor.

“Lu, can you look at me?” Connor asked, leaning forward slightly.

When they didn’t respond, he pushed with a gentle voice, “Look at me, Lu.”

They turned their face.

Their breaths were ragged, and their eyes were unable to meet his, preferring to stare at his collar. The two different colours were laced red as Lu forced back tears, and they tried to clear their throat.

“Just leave me the fuck alone, this is none of your business.”

Their voice shook, and their nails dug into the fabric of their sleeve.

Connor knitted his brows, and did his best to move their hand before they hurt themself.

“Lu, please walk away from the ledge with me.” They shook their head, biting down on their lip. “Lu,” Connor repeated, forceful enough for them to look him in the eyes, “please.”

Connor stood up slowly, helping Lu up, and they took a few steps away from the edge. It was only a couple of steps, allowing for a few feet of distance, but soon enough Lu was back on the ground. Their knees hit the brick harshly, jeans seeping in water as rain continued to drizzle above them. Connor knelt down in front of them, pulling them close to his chest.

Lu was shaking, breaths harsh and panicked.

Connor had never had to deal with this before, either.

He thought he heard them mumbling, though it was hard to hear through the fabric of his jacket. It was repetitive, almost hysteric, and Connor recalled reading about panic attacks, and so he began to breathe.

In, hold, out, hold, repeat.

As they both sat there, breathing slowly as the shaking began to fade, Connor thought that this was possibly one of the only useful reasons for his ability to breath.

Eventually they shifted apart, Lu wiping at their eyes, and they quickly began to mumble again. Connor picked out apologies, one after another, rushed under their breath, and Connor wasn’t entirely sure what to do except finish what he started.

He had always said he never failed a mission, and he wasn’t about to start now. 

So Connor wrapped his jacket around their shoulders, hushing them gently, and slowly, one step at a time, the two made it down the stairs of the building.

**Author's Note:**

> why did I write this, you may ask. The answer is vent-fic. it's always vent-fic.
> 
> first fic for this fandom, maybe not the last, we'll see. Connor's a good boy doing his best to help make the world a better place.
> 
> Please call/text a helpline if you're in serious danger, and please please stay safe <3 (crisis textline: 741-741)


End file.
